NAT Announces 68th Consecutive Cash Dividend

By Michelle Howard

Friday, July 11, 2014

Nordic American Tankers Limited (NAT) announced today that it has declared of a cash dividend for the 68th consecutive quarter, also reporting information about the distribution of the dividend-in-kind of a portion of the NAT shares in Nordic American Offshore Ltd. (NAO).

The NAT Board of Directors has declared a dividend of $0.12 per common share. The record date is July 25, 2014 and the payment of dividend is expected to take place on or about August 12, 2014.

NAT said it has previously informed investors about the dividend-in-kind (shares in Nordic American Offshore) that will be awarded to NAT shareholders having NAT shares above a certain threshold. The record date for the distribution of these shares is July 25, 2014. The distribution is expected to be effective as of August 11, 2014.

Each NAT shareholder that holds at least 500 of our common shares as of July 25, 2014 will receive NAO shares. The dividend is calculated on the basis of $0.13 to be distributed per NAT share, and the November 2013 NAO offering price of $15 per share, implying roughly one NAO share per 115.4 NAT shares. NAT will not distribute fractional NAO shares. Fractional shares will be compensated by a cash dividend based on the NAO closing price on August 8, 2014. Since NAO's November 2013 offering at $15 per share, NAO shares have gone up in value significantly. Based on the most recent NAO closing price of $20.15, this increase in the value of the NAO share is equivalent to about 34%, implying a total value of the dividend-in-kind of about $0.17 per share. The value of the dividend-in-kind may fluctuate depending on the development of the NAO stock price between the time of this release and the close of NYSE August 8, 2014.

Each NAT shareholder that holds 499 shares or less as of July 25, 2014 will receive a cash dividend. The dividend will be such that the monetary value is equivalent to that received by shareholders who receive NAO shares. The cash value of the dividend will therefore be based on the value of NAO shares at the close of NYSE August 8, 2014. As of the time of this release, NAT has a total of 89,182,001 common shares outstanding.

The company expects to distribute an information statement to NAT shareholders July 30, 2014 which contains additional information about Nordic American Offshore and the terms of this distribution of dividend-in-kind.